Way back when.

[doak]

I am 67 years old.
I grew up on the farm. Cotton, corn and truck crops.
The cotton was in a field to it's self.
I remember seeing dead birds, rabbits etc. around the edge of the cotton field.
Our cotton crop had a disease called "bowl weevil".
We used arsenic, toxiphane DDT, 3-5-40, and BHC.
We had very few fish in the streams close by.

Now we have an insecticide that is safe to use on cotton and the bees can have at it in a couple days afterward.

You could have an arsenic sack lay out in the weather for 6 months and catch the rain and wind,
then let your goat or cow eat or lick the sack and you have a dead animal.

It takes about 10,000 small men to push one big man.
look at where we are at now because of the greedy.

As long as these big operators get their way, the only hope we small timers have is to take care
of our selves.
The makers of these deadly products say thousands of test have done and their product is safe.
"WHO" did the testing.
I say just try to take care of your bees and study them in the environment you have them in.
I am out in the boonies away from every thing except power line spraying every several years.
The only other thing that has been sprayed for was the timber co. thinking they could deter or eradicate the sweet gum tree. What nuts. or they were lying.
At least maybe I'll have some late summer/early fall blooms, rained the last three days and more on the way.
doak.

[Kathyp]

on the other hand, you and i are old enough to remember that a lot of those chemicals were a god send to the farmers and ranchers.  farmers were more concerned with eating and feeding others, than whether a few fish died.  remember the days when insects and crop diseases wiped out a whole year for a farmer?  when he couldn't get credit for next years seed, he was done.  diseases went through livestock and whole herds were lost or destroyed to stop it. 

some of the things we did in the past may have been harmful, but at the time they were cutting edge and they saved us.

[doak]

You are right. What had to be done had to be done.
But look how far we have come on the treatment for getting the bowl weevil under control.
Plus other crops and animals.
It is unlawful to bring any used farm equipment into the state of Georgia that has not been through a decontamination  process. So goes the Honey Bee laws, inspected before crossing state lines.
The only catch is there is no inspection for stress and it is not considered a disease.
A weak immune system is not a disease. But these two conditions leave the door open for any and every thing that lurks.
Glad you mentioned the not being able to get seed and fert for next years crop. "point of no return"
Maybe I am just on a ranting spree. :roll:doak.